


Loss of One's Heart

by Mooshkamoogle



Category: Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (Video Game), Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (Video Game)
Genre: AU, Angst with a Happy Ending, Broken, Broken Heart, Crossover, Don't worry, Fighting, Fluff and Angst, Gen, hurt family, it's rough right now, there will be some hurt feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-15
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-07-12 09:57:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15992840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mooshkamoogle/pseuds/Mooshkamoogle
Summary: Evermore, the kingdom of love. The kingdom of hope. That's what they say, but it hasn't been looking really hopefully as of late, and Evan hasn't been himself. Thankfully, a young boy with a pure heart is willing to help, that is, if he can even get to His Majesty.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> In this world, let's say nnk2 happened a while before nnk1, y'know allowing this to actually work! This is going to be fun!

Chapter 1: Kingdom of Love

This kingdom was the opposite of everyth8ng he had been told. It was cold, heartless. People who weren't afraid looked like they’d kill you for no reason. Citizens fought in the streets, over anything and guards did nothing to stop them.

Oliver walked nervously, clutching his book close to his chest, Drippy rode on his shoulder afraid of getting separated from the child.

“Looks like old mouse-face was wrong ‘bout this place,” He grumbled to Oliver, “Seems this place is in dire need of Love and kindness.”

Oliver nodded, “It doesn't seem right… King Mausinger said that-”

“Oi!” A burly man cut him off, “Don't ya dare mention that name again lad! We don't take ta those who support that wrech!”

Oliver backed up from the man, nodding quickly, “Alright! I-It won't happen again! I-I promise!”

The man watched him with a deathly glare, before turning around and walking away. Grumbling about stupid outsiders.

Before Oliver could calm down from the encounter, he found himself colliding with the ground, his wand rolling away from him and his book flying from his grasp.

He had been thrown down by a man running past, laughing as he went. Guards chased him, screaming about how he'd get no mercy from his majesty.

Oliver slowly began pulling himself to his feet, his lip wobbled and he looked like he was going to cry.

“Are you are alright?”

Oliver was startled, he looked up to see a blonde man with silver-framed glasses picking up Oliver’s wand and spell book.

“I-I’m okay!” Oliver wiped his nose on his sleeve and looked up at the man.

His eyes were sad but kind. He held Oliver stand up and handed back his things.

“Thank you.” Oliver smiled at him.

“Rest of these people could learn a bit from you!” Drippy patted Oliver’s leg while looking up at the man.

“Just because his Majesty is acting crudely, doesn't mean we all should,” He adjusted the glasses on his head, “Especially not to children. Now, I take it you two are visiting?”

“Yes sir!” Oliver smiled big and proud, ready to tell him why they were here.

“If you’re here to see the king, then I suggest you leave.” he said, a sad tone poking through his normal voice, “His majesty used to love to meet visitors but…” He shook his head, “Please. Just leave.”

“Hey Now!” Drippy piped up, “This is Oliver, the pure heart one! He's here to help!”

“Mr.Drippy…” Oliver looked down at his fairy who smiled and nodded.

“Pure hearted…. Then you aim to defeat Shadar himself?” the man sounded shocked.

“There's quick!” Drippy said proudly.

“Perhaps you can…” the man tapped his chin and looked around worriedly, as if he didn't want someone to hear him, “Please,” he said quickly, “Come with me.”

“huh?” before Oliver could say anything, the man ushered them off, towards the castle. As they hurried towards the castle entrance, Oliver heard whispers from the citizens.

“He's only a little boy!”

“How could Leander do that?!”

“This Just isn't fair anymore!”

None of this seemed good, but they didn't stick around for Oliver to hear why.

Once inside, the man instructed them to follow him again. He lead them down the winding halls, a serious and grave look on his face.

“Leander!” a girl burst out of a room, she jumped when she saw him, not expecting him to be so close already.

“Tani, what is it?” Leander ran over to her, she seemed frantic.

“It's Roland! He's collapsed!”

“Dammit!” the girl lead Leander off, and the pair followed quickly, nervous to be left alone in the castle.

Tani lead them down another hallway, where a man lay on the ground, papers scattered all around him, he looked pained.

Leander kneeled down next to him and shook him gently.

“Roland? Roland?”

Roland’s eyes opened slowly, his face looking more pained than before as he pulled himself onto his knees.

“I'm sorry…” he rubbed his face.

“You can't keep doing this!” Tani yelled at him, “Next time, you might not wake up!”

“She's right,” Leander nodded, “You can't keep bowing to his every whim!”

“And do what? Risk saying no?” Roland glared as he began picking up his papers, “I don't want to die. I've got a family back home you know!”

“Then leave!” Tani flung her arms into the air, “Figure out a way back to your world and leave!” 

“...Your world?” Oliver finally said something, rather than just watching the scene play out, “Your not from this world?”

Roland looked up at the child, then at Leander, “Who is this?”

“He's the pure-hearted one, apparently,” Leander sighed, handing some papers to Roland, “I think he can help.”

“He's a child!” Roland snapped, “You’re sending a child to his death!” The man stood up with his papers, “Get him out of here before Evan finds him!” Roland pushed past Leander and Tani, “Take him back to his family or something…”

“Actually,” Oliver looked at his hands, “I don't have any family left, my mom… she…” he took a deep breath, “That's why I'm in this world, so I can save her, and everyone else!”

He looked Roland in the eyes with pure determination, Roland watched him, his gaze soft and hurt.

“I'm not going to my death,” Oliver clenched his fists, “I'll save your King, and restore him to who he truly is! I can promise all of you that!”

Roland smiled sadly and closed his eyes, “Heh… promise, eh?” He placed his free hand on Oliver's head, “Us otherworlders should really stop getting tangled up in this place.” he started to stumble off, Tani hurried after him, in case he fell again.

“You aren't gonna kick him out?” Tani asked as she opened the door for him.

“He reminds me of Evan… before he changed…”

Leander took the child to the library of the castle and began to speak with him.

The pair spoke quietly about what Oliver would need to do in order to help Evermore. As Oliver spoke, Leander quickly shushed him. They could hear a conversation coming down the hallway.

There was a young voice, which was very angry, and a gruff voice that sounded nervous.

“What did I say?!” The young voice shouted.

“I know yer Majesty but-”

“Then do it already!” He snapped, like a spoiled child.

“But yer Majesty, we can't! Think about the treaty!”

“Did you just say we can't?” the child sounded calm and cold, “Are you sure you want to continue to disobey me?”

“No!” The man’s voice shook, “We'll… We'll get right on it…”

“Good. Never do that, again.” 

Oliver could hear the child walk down the hallway and slam a door shut behind him. He eyes Leander, who was watching the door.

“That was the king just then…” He sighed after some silence, “He used… He used to love his kingdom, he'd do anything to help us and protect his people. All he wanted was to stop all war…”

Oliver looked at Mr.Drippy, who shook his head.

“Poor lad… he broken hearted…” Drippy confirmed what Oliver had been thinking, “It's bad too, seems his kindness was real big, now that it's gone, it's left a big hole that only anger tried to fill.”

“We can help,” Oliver said with determination, “We just need someone with enough kindness to fill his heart back up!”

Leander nodded, “I know what you need. But the issue is, even if you get the kindness, how would you get close enough to cast the spell? He's usually in the throne room, and only certain people are allowed to enter, and that's only if it's important.”

Oliver opened his mouth then closed it again. Now thinking carefully. Oliver certainly wasn't an important person to the king, so there was no way he would just be let in. He looked at Leander, who was also deep in thought.

“What if… You brought me in?” Oliver suggested.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you’re important right? So you can go in!” Oliver pointed out, “Then you take me with you!”

“That won't work, only I'll be allowed to enter, even if you’re with me,” Leander rested his forehead in his palms, “The only reason you'd be allowed in, is if King Evan decides that you’re important enough for him to even dare give you the time of day.”

Oliver slumped in his seat, face scrunching up as he thought, “What if….” he shook his head, no, there was no way that would work, it was too silly.

“What?” Drippy looked at the child, “Come on, share with the rest of us!”

“Um, well….” Oliver shrugged, “What if we pretended I was royalty from another country?”

Leander looked up, “That could work actually. He has given entry to royalty before.” Leander stood up and began pacing, thinking hard, “It'd need to be convincing, and from someplace he hasn't had contact with in a while…”

Oliver watched him pace back and forth as he came up with the details of the plan. He stopped and pointed at Oliver.

“I can get what we need to make you into a prince, and while I do that, you must find the missing piece of heart.” Leander stated, it seemed he had the plan figured out, “I'll get you out of the castle, you can handle the rest.”

Oliver nodded without any protest, it was good to get some help doing this. Well, more help the Drippy that is.

But when Oliver found himself standing in the middle of the city, without a single clue as to where he should start looking, things became a little different.

He watched the people around him, snapping at each other, pushing, shouting, doing all around impolite things, and he wasn't sure what to say, or do for that matter.

No one in this kingdom seemed to have the kindness he needed. He shook his locket, annoyed.

“Come on, show me where I need to go!” He grumbled.

“It doesn't work that way Ollie-boy.” Drippy watch him with his tiny arms folded.

Oliver sighed, “I know… I know…” he leaned back and looked at the sky, “But how are we supposed to find the kindness we need? This place is so big!”

“Well Ding Dong Dell was big, wasn't it?” Drippy looked at the people around them, “We still found our piece of heart!”

“Yeah, I guess. But I don't know where to start.”

“Suppose we could always ask around.” Drippy shrugged.

Oliver sighed and nodded. It was the best course of action, but he was almost afraid to talk to the people in the town. Especially with how intimidating most of them were. Though, he figured they couldn't all be like that.

Oliver began walking, he watched the people working, and shopping. Carefully trying to figure out who would be safest to talk too.

“Um, excuse me?” He approached a Grimalkin, who was working in the bazaar.

“Yes, young man?” She smiled down at him.

Good, she was nice, “Who do you think is the nicest person in the kingdom?” He asked.

The Grimalkin tapped her chin, thinking carefully.

“That's King Evan of course!” She grinned, her tone sadder then her face “He's just a bit off right now... I know he'll be back to his old self soon, he loves Evermore very much you know… But, after King Evan… the nicest person would have to be Consul Roland! He such a sweetheart!”

“Alright thank You!” Oliver shook her hand and hurried off, he stepped into an odd looking building, where he could see several potions being created by different wizards.

He walked over to kindly looking dog and asked the same question.

“Kindest person in Evermore?” She frowned, “Now there's a hard question. Usually I'd say King Evan, but with how he's been acting, I personally think it's because of stress, I'd say he's not the nicest anymore.”

“Well who is?” Oliver pressed.

“If I had to pick the second kindest, I'd have to say….” she hummed, “Umm… Oh! Chief Consul Roland!” She giggled, “He's always working hard to do whatever King Evan demands, and he's always so nice to people, no matter how stressed he is!”

Oliver thanked her and continued on his way, as he walked he stopped a burly man, who had just cheered up a crying child.

“Excuse me sir?” He asked nervously.

“Sir? Ya ain't one of my men lad!” He laughed heartily, “So Batu will do just fine!”

“Oh, um, then may I asked you a question Batu?” Oliver smiled, he hadn't actually expected him to be polite.

“Sure, what's bothering ya, lad?”

“Who do you think is the nicest person in Evermore?” Oliver asked.

Batu raised an eyebrow at the question, “Odd question to ask, boy. Why are ya askin’?”

“Oh!” He had been the first person to ask that, “We’re trying to help King Evan and bring him back to his normal self! But we need someone with a lot of kindness!”

Batu sighed, “Tani told me ‘bout ya.” He patted the child on the head, “If ya really think that you can help, then I'll answer yer question.”

Oliver thanked him, and grinned.

“Roland. Poor lad’s working himself to the point ‘o exhaustion and he still acts nicely ta those around ‘im. Even the king, who ain't exactly the nicest right now.”

“Roland was what other people said too!” Oliver folded his arms, “But he's in the castle, so we'd need to get back in to talk with him…”

“Guess we best get ourselves back over to Leander now shouldn’t we?” Drippy smiled, “I think I know what we gotta do!”

“You do Mr.Drippy?” Oliver looked down at his fairy friend, curiously, hoping for an explanation.

“I’ll tell ya once we met up with Leander!” Drippy folded his arms and looked away, “Just be patient!”

“But…” Oliver sighed, “Alright Mr.Drippy!”


	2. The New Prince of Hamelin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leander began to put the pieces of the plan together, and Roland offers his help. They all just hope that King Evan will be willing to talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So so sorry this took so long! I hope you enjoy! This isn't the end, not yet!

“Mr.Leander!” Oliver ran to the front gates, Drippy bouncing in front of him, excited, it seemed, to share his plan with the two.

“Good, you’re back!” Leander held a bag in his arms, and before Oliver could say anything he grabbed the child's arm and began pulling him off, “Come along, we have much to do!”

“Uh, uh!” Oliver hurried to keep up with his own arm, he was worried that Leander would pull him right over!

But Leander didn't realize how fast his pace was. He had this intense look on his face, he had his plan and he determined to save his king.

Leander was terrified with what could become of Evermore if Evan were to fall, no, terrified with what could happen to almost every kingdom.

Evan was a great hero, with his defeat of the Horned One and the uniting of the 5 Great Realms. Many people looked up to him, and considered him some sort of pillar of peace and hope. Leander knew that Evan's kindness greatly affected many people, but to see such a change when Evan broke. He never expected it.

He knew how many people were waiting for Evan to go back to being normal, for Evermore to go back to being normal. After what had happened…. He knew he had to help save them.

“If I had been able to…” Leander mumbled to himself and sighed. He sat in a chair next to the wall, waiting quietly for Oliver, “Now is not the time for past mistakes… Now we have hope.”

The door opened and Oliver stepped out, fully dressed in royal grab. He even wore fancy jewellery. He looked very proper, and very regal indeed. Well, Oliver himself looked rather awkward. He knew the plan, but he hadn't actually realize just how kingly, or princely, he'd have to be.

“There's proper kingly of you Ollie-boy!” Drippy said proudly, “Now then, let's about this plan of yours!” 

Leander had began adjusting Oliver's outfit when Drippy spoke, “What is there to discuss? You have the piece of heart, so all that's left is to get you to Evan and have you help him.”

“Well actually….” Oliver said a bit awkwardly.

“What do you mean, actually?” Leander stopped adjusting the outfit and looked Oliver in the eyes, his brows furrowed, “You do have it right?”

“Umm…” Oliver glanced over to Drippy, who waved him on, “Not yet….” He could see Leander looking physically more tired the second he said that, “You see… We need to get to Roland, we think he has the piece of heart we need.”

Leander sighed and scratched the back of his head, “And how exactly are we going to pull him away from his work long enough in order for you to get him the piece of his heart that you need?”

That's when Drippy piped up, “Simple, you get poor Roland to bring Prince Oliver here to his majesty! Before the two enter, Ollie-boy can yank that piece of heart and get right to fixing that king of yours!”

Leander tapped his chin, “That would make things easy I suppose. I will have to inform Roland of the plan.”

“That's good! Should we go to the castle?” Oliver fidgeted with his cape, “I hope I looks royal enough…”

“We should take you towards the castle… but I don't think we have everyone see you yet…” He stood and and began pacing around the room, “But, people would be suspicious if we left from here… Perhaps we need a little more help then I originally thought…”

“What do you mean?” Oliver watched him walk back and forth, “What are you gonna do?”

“First, go back to looking like a normal citizen. We can't have you running around like that.” Leander stopped and pointed at Oliver who looked surprised.

Meanwhile, a royal guard entered the throne room, with an urgent message for his majesty. The king gazed out the window at his kingdom, his arms behind his back. His eyes scanned everyone who came into view, which was most people.

“You highness!” The guard instantly bowed, dropping to one knee at the child king's feet.

“Speak.” The king commanded, with a wave of his hand.

“The visitors from another land,” he began, “we've been watching them like you requested.”

“And what have you seen?” He tapped his fingers on the table next to him.

“The have speaking with Master Leander,” he continued nervously, “they seem to be plotting something, but we cannot tell what.”

“You best start figuring out what they're doing!” The king snapped, turning his flaming gaze onto the poor guard, “If they dare do anything to my perfect kingdom, and you have not warned me. Not only shall they be executed, but you shall join them!”

The guard nodded quickly, “Yes, sir! We will discover their plot as soon as possible!”

“Good. Keep an eye on that Leander as well.” The king began walking towards his throne, “I don't trust him, he has always been rather shifty.”

“Of course, your majesty.” The guard did not move from where he kneeled.

“You have your orders.” The king looked down at him, “Now leave!” he stomped his foot on the ground, and the guard hurried out of the room.

The king took a seat on his throne, enjoying the silence. An evil grin spread across the innocent face of the child, “Well, well, well Leander. Seems you've finally decided to show your true colors. Once you reveal yourself, I can finally remove this damned council without suspicion. Then… Then I do what I please…” he laughed, a laugh that used to be rather cute and sweet, but now was tainted with the very evil the plagued the land so horribly.

That evil tainted the kingdom, took a happy child and ripped the good from his heart. In turn, he corrupted his own kingdom. Turning his people dark and evil. This had been the intention of the dark magic for sure. As cruel as it is.

The king, however, found this to be rather funny. The way his citizens acted to each other, it was hilarious. People still called Evermore the kindest kingdom in all the land, but here they were insulting and pushing each other. This is how it would be, for the rest of time. This is how he wanted it.

And if someone wanted to change what path he had set for his kingdom, then they'd have to answer to him.

The guards watched silently, near where Leander had last been. They were waiting for the wizard to return, possibly with the outsider, and return they did. Serious looks plastered across their faces, Leander had a hand on Oliver’s back as he lead him secretly back into the castle. Evan had been blinded by his broken heart, he believed everyone bowed to his every whim and would only ever listen to him. But actually, there was quiet deceit within his castle walls. Guards that vowed to keep certain comings and goings hush hush. Though, it is a sham that the guard sent to watch the pair of wizards weren’t one those secret keepers.

The pair took the longest route to where Roland worked, it was the safest, as the route kept them far from either Evan’s royal chambers or the throne room. When they would pass a guard, he would pretend to have not seen them, or as if he had seen something much more interesting outside. Maids and servants acted as though nothing was wrong and politely nodded at Leander then continued their duty.

“I would’ve thought they’d do something about me by now…” Oliver said as they passed another guard.

“They wouldn’t dare. They know his majesty isn’t in his right mind, he’d kill you if he found out about you.” Leander kept them moving forward, “They wouldn’t let that happen.”

“Is King Evan really going to kill me…?” Oliver asked quietly, the obvious fear in his voice couldn’t be hidden.

“If our plan works, King Evan will formally apologise for not greeting himself when you entered,” He smiled fondly, “and he’d actually mean it.”

Oliver nodded slowly, not so sure he could actually handle this whole “word saving” business.

They approached a door and finally came to a stop. Leander told Oliver that Roland worked in there, and that he rarely ever left. Unless he was delivering papers to others, or responding to King Evan’s summons. The door opened with a creak, and the both stepped in, quietly shutting it behind them.

“What do you want I’m very busy!” Roland snapped from his desk, he looked strained and tired, like he could barely keep going. But there was determination in his eyes, one that kept him going until he could see Evan back to his normal self.

“Mr.Roland,” Oliver stepped forward, he could see Roland’s face soften as turned to look at him, “we need your help. We think you can help us save Evan.”

Roland shakily stood, and walked over to Oliver and looked down at him, “What do you need me to do?”

Oliver smiled, he didn’t even need to look at the locket to see it’s glow. Roland wanted nothing more then to see his dear friend back to normal, he wanted to help so bad, he wouldn’t even question Oliver.

“Just stand there!” Oliver’s spellbook rose and he held his wand out, the tip glowing with bright magic. His eyes closed as the spell was cast. Extract kindness extracted itself from Roland’s heart and nestled calm into Oliver’s locket.

Roland placed a hand over his heart, he wasn’t sure what he had felt, but it certainly was a new experience.

“What… What did you do?” His eyes were glowing, “What spell was that?”

“It’s called Take Heart,” Oliver answered before Drippy could begin, “it took your extra kindness from your heart so it could be passed onto someone else who needs it!”

“That’s not going to change me is it?” Roland still wasn’t even looking at them, “Like, I won’t become like Evan will I?”

“Nah mun!” Drippy walked over and patted the man’s leg, “Only scrapped a wee bit off the top, nothing ta worry ‘bout!”

“Ah…” Roland nodded before finally casting his gaze over to the child, “Oliver… Where are you from?”

“Somewhere very far away,” Oliver answered, looking right into Roland’s eyes, “you wouldn’t be able to find it here.”

Roland smiled and chuckled, “I mean in that faraway place, where are you from?”

“Motorville.”

“Hm, no where near D.C. then?” Roland shrugged, “Sham, I hoping to introduce to me son. Thought you two might get along…”

Oliver tilted his head, looked at Roland with confused eyes, “Huh?”

“Oh, you asked earlier,” Roland sat down on a nearby chair to rest, “if I came from another world. Thought I’d finally answer you, and I’m from the same place as you. Just a different city.”

“Neato!” Oliver bounced right up to him, a lot more excited, “You live in D.C.? Can you see the white house from where you live? Have you ever met the President?”

Roland laughed and patted Oliver’s head, “Of course I can see it! Kinda hard to miss it when you live inside it!” he watched Oliver’s eyes light up even, this time in total surprise.

“Wait a minute… Roland…” He mumbled, before quickly asking, “What’s your last name?!”

“Crane.”

“Roland Crane!” Oliver gasped and stepped back, covering his mouth, “No way…”

“Oi, wanna fill us in Ollie-boy?” Drippy folded his arms and eyed the pair of other worlders.

“That’s...That’s…” Oliver stammered, “That’s President Roland Crane!”

Leander smiled at Oliver’s excitement, Drippy folded his arms and chuckled. Oliver spoke a million miles a minutes, asking Roland all the questions he could think of, Roland wasn’t even able to process half the questions before Oliver asked another. He just sat there with his mouth open, like he had tried to answer one question but didn’t have the chance. His tired eyes glanced at the other two adults for help, while they laughed quietly.

“The king won’t like this…” the guard mumbled, as he stood by the door, shaking his head, “Master Roland is in on it too….?”

“You can’t tell the king,” his coworker mumbled back, “think of what he’ll do!”

“Yes I know! But I don’t have a choice!” the guard turned and began to walk away, “Think logically though, his Majesty could never hurt Master Roland, or Master Leander. They’re too close… He’d never hurt them…” he almost didn’t sound like he believed himself.

His coworker watched helplessly as he made his way back to the king to report his findings, they both knew what was coming, and as much as they both hated it. There was no stopping it.

“AH!” Evan screamed when he heard the news, tipping over the table next to him and sending whatever lay on it crashing to the ground, “Him too then? I’ll bet they’re all betraying me! They all want me taken down!” a black and purple mist formed around the child’s head, “They’re plotting a coup right now! They’ll try to kill me!” he screamed, the mist grew thicker, his eyes now glowing a deep purple and his heart feeling empty and cold, he straightened his posture and in a sickly calm voice he spoke again, “Fine, let them come to me. They won’t last long anyways.”

Evan awaited their arrival on his throne, a smile across his face, the air permeated with the evil presence and feeling.

“Your majesty….” A guard stuttered, “There is someone who wishes an audience with you…”

“Oh? Fantastic!” He grinned, “Please, send them in. I’d be delighted to meet them!” he chuckled coldly, the same thin evil grin stretched across his innocent face.

“A-ahem!” The guard cleared his throat, “Now announcing, Prince Oliver, of Hamelin!”

The door creaked open, as Roland lead the way. Behind him walked a royal looking Oliver, his head held high and a proud look upon his face.

Roland stopped, and stepped aside, allowing Oliver to step forward and bow. Evan stood and bowed in return.

Oliver was surprised to see the kind look on his face, the king smiled peacefully as he took a seat on his throne again.

“It is an honor to meet you, your majesty.” Oliver said politely, mimicking the accent from Hamelin.

“Honored to meet as well, Prince.” the way he said prince was cold and sharp, as if he knew something about the word, “Now please, let us skip the formalities. My friend, how can I help you?”

“You see, your Majesty, we came to bring you a gift,” Oliver recalled what he had been told to say, “It's a special gift, as a show of good will from Hamelin to Evermore.”

“Is it?” He raised his eyebrows, looking unconvinced, “Well then, why don't I give you a gift in return?”

“Huh?”

“Yes,” Evan stood up and took hold of his own wand, and moved it through his fingers, a strange look on his face “something very special indeed!”

Before Oliver could react, Evan shot a blast of magical energy straight at him. Oliver raise his arms to shield himself from the blast, but it never came. As Oliver lifted his arms, he heard a heavy thud. Roland lay at his feet, a pained look on his face. 

“Roland!” Oliver dropped to his knees by the man, “Are you okay?!”

“I'm fine!” Roland hissed in pain, “Be careful! There's no way he's done yet!”

The entrance to the room slammed shut. Oliver looked up to see Evan now standing, the most surrounding his head, innocent eyes glowing purple. 

“Now then child,” The boy king hissed, “stand up and face me, at least die an honorable death!”


	3. Call of the Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> King Evan is furious with the traitors that stand before him, and Oliver is prepared for a fight. Roland is simply scared that Evan might not make it through this, and that darkness might over take him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for your responses on that last chapter! I've been so excited to write again! I hope you guys enjoy this one, I gotta say, writing one of these scenes just broke my heart though

“Did you really think I wouldn't catch wind of your traitorous plot?” Evan shot blasts of magic, Oliver leaped out of the way and Roland managed to drag himself to safety, “You're all traitors, and once I'm through with you, then I'll finally be able to do what I want with this kingdom! And none of you can stop me!”

“We aren't-” Roland ducked back into cover as a blast of fire came towards his head, “We're not betraying you Evan!”

Evan walked toward the center if the room, the dark hold on his heart growing ever present, “I always suspected Leander, but you Roland, you were certainly a surprise!” his grip on his wand tightened, “I should've guessed though, you've betrayed me once before haven't you?”

Roland hide himself behind a pillar, “You know full well I wasn't actually betraying anyone!”

“You're lying!” Evan screamed, “I'm sick of people lying to me! Only so they can hurt me!” He sounded like he was crying, “I won't let you hurt me! I won't anyone hurt me- Ah!” He clutched his chest, and dropped to his knees, he felt cold, so cold, “I'll kill you!” He hissed through shaking breath, the darkness began to take form above the child's head, “ARGH!” He screamed out.

“Mr.Drippy,” Oliver stepped out from the cover he had dove behind, “What's happening to him?”

“He's forming a nightmare that's what!” Drippy looked out from behind Oliver, “And it's gonna be a proper strong one from the looks of it Ollie-boy!”

“A nightmare?” Oliver tried to ask, but he didn't have a chance as the monster took form, it let out a terrifying scream at Oliver and charged at him.

Oliver rolled out of the way quickly, clutching his spell book tightly.

“Mighty!” Oliver called as he summoned his familiar, “I need your help!” The creature sprung up excitedly, ready to fight alongside Oliver.

“Let's go!” Oliver pointed his wand forward, and forward Mighty ran, his sword at the ready. Oliver stood back, a serious look on his face, his book hovered at his side he gripped his wand, “We can win this! We have too!”

The Nightmare charged the attacking familiar, slashing at it with poisonous claws, while jumped to safety again and again.

Oliver readied a blast of fire, knowing full well it would direct the Nightmares attention onto him. He took a deep breath and sent the fire down onto the monster, it roared in anguish.

The child stepped backwards, as the creature slowly turned to look at him. It let out an ear splitting screech that sent Oliver stumbling back in pain, his eyes squeezed shut as bent over covering his ears.

“Ah!” He looked a second too late, the monster flew into him and sent him sprawling onto his back, his spell book and wand went flying from his hands as he collided with the ground.

He grunted in pain and rolled onto his stomach, just in time to avoid the next attack.

Mighty charged at the Nightmare yet again, piercing it with his sword. The monster howled in pain, and continued to fit the small familiar.

Oliver crawled on the ground, keeping low so the monster wouldn't noticed his movement as he tried to reach his spell book and wand.

He reached out and took the spell book in his hands, then reached for the wand next, but froze. His eyes widened as the monster hovered above, staring down at him with a fierce glare. Oliver was frozen with fear as it reached down and lifted him by his wrist.

“Put me down!” He said snapped out of his fear paralysis, he kicked at the monster but it did nothing. The Nightmare’s claws poked into his skin, little droplets of blood formed from where it held him 

“Help!” Oliver screamed as attempted to get himself free from the Nightmare’s grasp, he could see Mighty attacking it with all he had, but the Nightmare remained focussed on the child, “Just put me down!” He brought up his legs and kicked the beasts several times in its face, attempting to make it let go.

Suddenly the shots of something rang out, the creature howled in pain again, this time sounding much more pained than before. It dropped Oliver, sending him thumping to the ground and turned around quickly to find its new attacker.

“Ow…” Oliver sat up quickly and rubbed his wrist in pain, when he saw the Nightmare moving to pursue something else, he quickly grabbed his wand, “What even attacked it…” he wondered.

“Oliver!” He could hear Roland call, “Are you okay?”

“Mr.Roland!” Oliver stood up and quick as he could, “I'm alright!” He ran around the side of the creature, keeping a wide distance from him and it of course, “Was that you?” 

“Yeah!” He could see Roland propping himself up, a pistol clenched in his hand as he stared the creature down, “Can you still fight?”

“Yes, Sir!” 

“Good!” The Nightmare readied a charge, Roland took a deep breath, “Get Your strongest spell ready, and on my count, attack!”

“Yes Sir!” Oliver’s book began to float as the pages flipped to his strongest spell, “Ready!”

“3…”

The monster roared.

“2…”

Roland steadied his aim.

“1…”

The Nightmare back its charge.

“NOW!”

Oliver shot his strongest spell into the monster, while Roland fired multiple bullets into the creature. The Nightmare was stopped in its tracks, letting out a horrible scream of pain as it was blasted with attacks from either side.It convulsed in agony, letting out horrible screeches of pain.

When the barrage stopped, it fell to the ground, still. Oliver and Roland watched it with wilted breath, eyes wide waiting for it the move again.

But slowly, it turned to dust and faded away. The room cleared and the pair could yet again see Evan, on his knees in the center of the room.

“Evan…? Roland gasped, one hand wrapped around his middle from where he had been blasted earlier, “Evan, are you okay?”

“Shut up!” Evan screamed, “Shut up you horrible traitor!”

“Oi, Ollie-boy!” Drippy tugged on Oliver's cape, “The poor lad's still broken hearted, you need ta do somethin’ lad!”

“Right!” Oliver nodded, his heart still pounding from the battle, he raised his book and his wand, this time not preparing a dangerous spell.

Roland watched as a glowing ball of light flew from Oliver locket into Evan's heart. As he watched the child began to look around his vision grew blurry. He thought it looked like Evan was saying something but it was hard to tell, he couldn't quite hear… then it went dark.

Evan's chest felt warm, his mind felt clear. He blinked slowly and raised his head to look at Oliver and Drippy, they looked back nervously, he then turned to look at Roland. He looked exhausted, he was barely holding himself up.

“Roland,” Evan slowly began to stand, “Roland are you okay?”

Before he could do anything, Roland collapsed onto the ground, his breathing slow and his face twisted in pain.

“Roland!” Evan wailed and ran to his side, shaking him, “Roland! Come on!” his eyes filled with tears, “You can't! You can't leave me!” He quickly turned to Oliver, “Please! Go get help! Please he's hurt!”

Oliver nodded and ran out of the room as quick as he could.

“Roland…” Evan looked down at his friend, “You can't leave me too…” wrapped his arms around him, and nuzzle his face into his sweater while he cried. “It's all my fault… I'm sorry… Roland… Dad, I'm sorry…” he hiccuped.

Evan felt a hand rub his head, he looked up quickly, only to realize it was Roland's. He turned to look at Roland's face, his eyes were open, though he looked tired.

“Hey buddy,” he sighed and propped himself up on his elbow, “It's okay, see? I'm okay!”

He gave Evan an exhausted smile, but Evan just wrapped his arms around him tighter. Roland scooted so he'd be able to leaned against something, pulling Evan along with him. Once he had something to support him, he pulled Evan onto his lap and began to run his hair.

“It wasn't you who did this,” he soothed, “it was Shadar. I know you Evan, you wouldn't ever hurt your kingdom or your friends. You a good King, and a good friend. You can make this right, if anyone can fix this kingdom, it's you.”

Evan sniffled and nodded,”I'm sorry…”

“It's okay Evan.” He squeezed him tightly, and continued to rub his hair until they both fell asleep.

Evan woke up the next morning, he was in his own bed, completely alone. He sat up slowly and looked around the room. Nothing seemed different, but everything felt different.

Slowly he pulled himself from his covers and got dressed. Once he was in his day clothes, he stepped out of his room, empty still, well besides the guards patrolling the hallways at all times. He looked left and right before finally deciding to step out of his room.

He walked down the hallway, a nervous look on his face, his ears pressed down in worry. His demeanor was small, and he held his hands close to his chest. The boy liked like he expected someone to yell at him.

As he stepped onto the next hallway he could hear what sounded like glass crashing to the ground, he jumped in surprise.

“Oh no! Oh no!” A maid dropped to her knees and began cleaning as quickly as she could, a terrified look on her face.

“Are you alright?” Evan hurried over and kneeled down, “Here, let me help you!” He began picking up broken pieces of glass and placing them onto the tray she had been carry, “You didn't get cut did you?”

“N-no...No Your Majesty!” She stuttered in fear and surprise, she had expected him to begin yelling and screaming at her, not helping her clean.

“There!” He placed the last piece on the tray and smiled at her, “Huh?” He hadn't expect to see the look on her face, “What's the matter?”

“You're…” she sighed in relief, “You really are feeling better…”

“Um… Yes.” He nodded, “Quite a lot better.”

“Thank goodness for that,” she returned his smile, “we've missed you your Majesty.” The maid picked up the tray of broken glass, and carried it off to throw away, “Don't worry your Majesty, I'll handle the spill!”

“Okay!” Evan called after her, “Oh wait!” But she was already gone, “Oh man, I was going to ask her about Roland…” he grumbled, before continuing on his way.

“Maybe I should look for the others…”

The king slowly walked around his castle, watching the way his people react to his presence. All conversations would stop when he entered a room, people would advert their gazes and even apologize for looking at them.

Evan's heart sank, this was what Shadar's magic had caused, fear, fear in his people and in his kingdom. He felt awful, knowing that he was the one that spread all of this fear, he was the one that made them worry for their lives when he simply walked past.

He was supposed to be a king, not their biggest fear.

“Excuse me…” He asked for a maid’s attention quietly, she had been standing with her friends and the group had completely frozen up when he came by, “Have you see Tani?”

His voice was small, and he didn't even look her in the eyes, he felt guilty and awful.

“I…” the maid glanced at her friends who shrugged before morning at her to keep talking, “I'm afraid I haven't your majesty. If I had to guess, she's visiting Roland.”

“Where is he?” Evan looked up her sounding a bit hopeful.

“His room,” one of the others spoke, “doctor put him on bedrest after seeing how exhausted he was.”

“Thank you very much,” Evan bowed to them before turning to hurry off, “have a lovely day!” Evan called back to them as he scampered off to track down his friends.

When Evan reached Roland's room, he pressed his ear against the door, to see if he could hear anything. Quiet talking. He knocked the slowly pushed the door open.

“Roland?” He said poking his head in.

Roland was sitting up in his bed, talking with the others who all sat in various places around the room. At the foot of his bed was a little boy. “What was his name again?” Evan wondered to himself, “I think it was Oliver…”

“Oh,” Roland turned to see Evan standing in the doorway, the others all seemed to get nervous. Except Oliver who smiled brightly at Evan. “Evan, it's good to see you!” Roland smiled at the child.

Evan smiled excitedly and rushed into the room, leading onto the bed and wrapping Roland in the biggest hug his little self could. Roland laughed and hugged him right back.

“Roland! I was so worried!” Evan pulled away, allowing the others to see the giant smile on his face, “I'm so glad you're okay!”

“I'm glad to have you back Evan,” Roland patted his hair, “we have Oliver to thank for that.”

Evan turned to look at the other boy, who still smiled brightly, “You're the one cured me?”

“Yes, your were broken hearted your Majesty!” Oliver explained, “But when were able to return your missing heart piece, so your back to normal now!”

“Yes… I remember…” Evan nodded, “I did so many awful things… to all of you and everyone in castle. I may not be able to make up for how I treated you, but I would like to try and fix my mistakes.”

“Come on now Evan!” Tani wrapped her arm around Evan's shoulders and nougied him, “If we went on hating you, well then, we would've have befriend all those other royals after Doloran messed with them!”

“I uh….” Evan looked a bit embarrassed, “But this is different!”

“Not really,” Bracken piped up, “it really was just like when Doloran was corrupting people. Actually, you kinda reminded me of Zip when you were broken hearted.”

“All that matters now, your Majesty, is that you are back to your full normal self,” Leander adjusted his glasses, “now, together, we can all fix what was broken and stand up even stronger against Shadar.”

“But…” Evan looked around at all the others, “But I was so awful to all of you…”

“Argh!” Batu smacked his palm against his forehead, “How hard is it understand lad?!” He lifted Evan up and swung him around, “Yer still our friend and our king! No matter what!” He Evan up and looked him in the eyes, “Ya know what ya did wrong, and now ye can fix it! And we're gonna help ya!”

“Umm… Alright!” Evan nodded nervously, “We'll fix it together…” Batu set him back down onto his feet and ruffled his hair.

“Oliver,” Evan turned to the bowed to him, “I owe you a great deal of thanks. Please tell me, what up brought you to us in our time of need?”

“We're on a quest!” Drippy spoke, “Ollie-boy here is the pure hearted one, and he's gonna defeat Shadar and return piece to this here world!”

“What? At your age?” Batu sounded surprised, “Dontcha think that's a bit dangerous lad?”

“Uh, boss, you know he's around the same age as Evan right?” Tani put her hands on her hip, “And Evan saved the entire world from a great evil. So what's the difference now?”

“The difference is that he's not surrounded by other people who can help him fight,” Roland spoke, “Evan had all of us when he went to fight the Horned One.”

“That in true,” Evan agreed, “I believe, however, Oliver will gain companions along the way. Much like I did.”

“Thank you, your Majesty!” Oliver stood up, and walked over to Evan, “What will you do now though?”

“Hm…” Evan tapped his chin, “Well, I have to show my people that everything is okay now… How long will you be sticking around Evermore?”

“Not sure,” Oliver shrugged, “we should probably start moving again soon though.”

“I see…” Evan looked like he was contemplating something, “Well I simply must ask you to please stick around for a while longer!”

“Why's that, then?” Drippy asked folding his arms.

“You may not know this, but Evermore is know for it's festivals and celebrations,” Evan explained, “so to thank you for helping us, I plan on having a celebration in your honor!” He king beamed.

“That’s a great idea Evan!” Tani jumped up excitedly, “Now you definitely have to stick around!” She gave Oliver a hard bump in the shoulder.

“Ouch…” Oliver rubbed his shoulder, “Really though, a celebration? For me?”

“Yes!” Evan nodded excitedly, “Not only will it show everyone that everything's back to normal, but it will also show them who they have to thank for that!”

“Jeepers…” Oliver said in a shocked tone, “Are you sure…?”

“Absolutely positive!” Evan had a huge grin on his face, and was bouncing excitedly.

“Sorry Oliver,” Roland chuckled, “once Evan gets his mind set on something, there's no changing it.”

“Yes!” Tani cheered, “Party!” She jumped up and down, then grabbed Evan's hands, “Come on! We gotta start planning right now! We should invite all the royals! They probably need a break from being fancy!”

She began to pull him out of the room, Evan called out before the pair disappeared out the door, “Leander! Can you please show them to their room? They'll be staying in the castle of course!”

Leander laughed and nodded, they could hear Evan and Tani's excited talking get quieter and quieter as they hurried down the hallway.

“Oliver, Mr.Drippy,” Leander walked towards the door, “Please, come with me.”

Oliver nodded and ran up to Leander's side, “Goodbye Mr.Roland!” He waved as the Junior Consul lead them away.

“Well, then,” Bracken began walking to your door, “we'll let you get you rest Roland!” She pulled on Batu's arm and signaling to him that it was time to go.

“Aw,” Roland wined, “Come on? Do you have to leave?”

“Sorry,” Bracken smirked at him, “doctor's orders say that you need your rest! So rest you shall!”

“Fiiiine…” Roland jokingly groaned, “I guess I'll rest some more.”

“Don't worry,” Batu chuckled heartily, “We'll bust ya plenty, and I'm sure Evan will keep ya company!”

Roland nodded and watch them walk out the door, shutting it behind them. The room fell quiet and he curled up under his blankets again to get some rest. He wanted to be able to enjoy the celebration when it started, so was going to rest up plenty.


	4. Let the Celebrations Begin!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The festivities in Evermore begin, much to the joy of the kingdom. Not everyone can enjoy a good party though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while! Glad to be back! It may be short, but I hope you all enjoy the new chapter anyways!

It would Evermore’s first party in a long while, and as soon as the city was given the word of the celebration, there was no end to the excitement. It was said that King Evan had invited all of his fellow royals from their alley kingdoms to celebrate his return. Not only that but King Evan himself could be seen running around the town to help set up and prepare for the celebration. Which was something they hadn’t seen in a while.

The joy, kindness, and excitement that the kingdom had been so well known for had returned, and it seemed Evermore had truly returned to being its old self.

As Evan bounced around the kingdom, he greeted everyone by name with a huge bright smile. There was nothing he loved more than his kingdom, besides his family of course. 

“Evan!” Tani pulled on his hand and pointed at something in the shop, “Look at that! Isn’t that cool?”

“Yes!” He nodded happily, “It is very pretty,” he turned his attention to the shopkeeper, “Where does this come from? Did you make it?”

“Ah,” she lifted the lovely painting for the children to see, “this was painted by an Al Mamoonian artist, it retells an old legend from long ago.” she handed it down to Evan so he and Tani could get a better look, “I assume you’ve heard the tale of the Clarion?” she asked, and Evan nodded, “Well, this painting depicts the three brothers who created the Clarion, and fourth brother who played it to clear the mist.” As she spoke she pointed to things on the painting, she then paused and looked at Evan, with a thoughtful look.

“Is something the matter miss?” he asked when he realized she had stopped talking.

“It’s nothing your majesty…” she hummed, “I was just thinking… We knew that the brothers represent the three original kingdoms right?” she asked and Evan nodded, “Have you ever realize that Evermore is a lot like the fourth brother? The one who was able to unite his brothers and help bring them together. It’s a lot like what you did for this world.”

Evan smiled softly, “I… I guess I never thought about that before, miss.” his eyes scanned the painting, looking across the great instrument depicted in the center of it all.

Tani watched him for a bit then looked up at the lady, “How much is the painting?” she asked, “I think it’d be nice to hand in the castle!”

Evan looked at her quickly in surprise.

“Don’t you think so?”

“Um… I suppose…” He hadn’t really expected to buy anything, especially not decorations.

“Usually that would cost quite a lot your majesties, however, considering all you’ve done…” she pondered quietly, “1,000 Guilders.”

“...Majesties….” Tani whispered in confusion, “But only Evan’s royalty….”

“Oh please!” Evan shook his head, “Let me pay full price, it’s really no trouble!” he handed the painting to Tani so he could pull out his money bag, “I’d hate to think the artist isn’t getting the money they deserve!”  
The shopkeeper laughed, “If you really insist your majesty!” she opened her money box, “Alright then, “10,000 Guilders is full price!”

“Whoa!” Tani gasped, “You were giving us that much of a discount?!”

“Thought the uniter of our world deserved it.” She smiled honestly at them.

“Thank you, but a painting like this deserves the be bought at full price.” Evan pulled out the money and set it on the counter, “Thank you so much, miss!”

“Come on Evan, let’s go hang this up in the throne room!” Tani already began to hurry off, “That way everyone can see it!” she held the painting above her head as she hurried off towards the castle.

“Ah! Tani wait!” Evan scampered off, following after his friend, “Be careful with the painting!”

 

The two ran down the street calling and shouting to each other, the shopkeeper smiled fondly, knowing that this was the return of peace to Evermore and that from this day on they’d be even stronger.

Back in the castle, they were quick to start decorating.

“You’re trying to save who?” Tani asked as she stood on her father’s shoulders in order to hang up the painting in a good spot where everyone could see.

Oliver had taken a seat on the ground with Drippy and had been talking about his adventure so far, he had mentioned that great sages and his goal.

“Alicia, the great sage.” Oliver restated, “She was soulmates with my mom, and when Shadar…”

“Aye, we can imagine lad,” Batu spoke, not allowing Oliver to finished that part of his story.

“So if you save her, your mother comes back?” Evan sipped his tea, he had been listening intently to Oliver’s tale.

“Right you are King Evan!” Drippy nodded at him, “Proper sharp you are!”

Leander used his magic to levitate some decorations into place, he had a strange look on his face, he glanced back at Oliver who continued to talk, excited about the new kingdoms he’d get to see.

“Do you… Do you really think Alicia can be rescued?” Leander asked suddenly.

“Leander!” Evan snapped to look at him, “What on Earth do you mean by that?!”

“Forgive me if I sounded rude,” he apologized, “I simply wondered if there was hope for her… I knew the sage once, she had visited Hydropolis many times while preparing to face Shadar.”

“You knew her?!” Oliver stood up quickly, knocking Drippy over as he did, “Really? Were you friends?”

“I am afraid I did not know her well enough to be considered friends,” Leander continued to put decorations in place, “but I am familiar with all of the great sages, and they, of course, all know each other.” He stated simply, “If you want to find information on Alicia, I’d suggest asking one of her fellow sages.”

“Oh,” Oliver looked a little disappointed, “I’ll be sure to ask one of them when I finally get to meet them.”

“The only one who might not know her is Emperor Marcassin,” he added after thinking for a moment, “and if he has met her, I believe he was far too young to ever remember.”

“Oh Marcassin?” Evan looked up excitedly, “I invited him to the celebration, I haven’t seen him in ages, I believed now would be a good time to get in contact again!”

Bracken was sitting on the ground as well, fixing a loose screw on her leg, “You mentioned visiting Autumnia when you were younger, did you visit Hamelin a lot?”

“Yes, Prince Marcassin was very friendly, and he was close allies with Ding Dong Dell.” Evan explained, “He was quick to teach me a lot about becoming a king, so I wouldn't feel as nervous taking the throne, like he did.” he smiled fondly, “He was always really happy to see how good my magic was getting.”

Bracken grunted as she tightened to screw, “We haven't heard from Hamelin in a while, they used to be good allies with Broadleaf but now I guess they don't wanna talk.” she rested her cheek on her knee, glancing at the boy king, noticing his face turning into a worried looking expression, “Hey, don't worry! I'm sure he'll stop by!”

Evan nodded, “I do hope so.” he said before finishing off his tea and standing up, “Well, on that note, I shall go and make sure the operations for the festival are complete!”

He stepped out of the room, leaving his friends to continue decorating.

The kingdom was alive with excitement, everyone had something to do and they were thrilled about it. Evermore was finally back to the way it should’ve always been. As people bustled in and out, the guards were very distracted just making sure everyone in Evermore was safe, so a few shady figures slipped past. Evil plans and cryptid ideas swirling in their poisoned minds. As the celebration began, one man had an evil thought.

The King announced to his kingdom, his arm outstretched as if he wanted to hug everyone in the kingdom, “Let the celebrations began!” the people cheered.

“But before we all celebrate, let us give thanks, to the reason we're even able to celebrate today!” He motioned to Oliver to come forward and he did, “It's thanks to Oliver here that I'm able to stand before you as my true self,” Evan placed a hand on Oliver's shoulder, “it's also thanks to him that we'll be able to stand up together and face the evil that has been plaguing our world.”

The people watched their king with intense stares, ready to hear with what he had to say next.

“Together we'll stand up against Shadar, he's done enough to hurt the people around us. We won't bow down to him anymore, we will no longer live in fear!” Evan's face was intense, he then turned to Oliver, “Evermore will stand alongside you no matter what, Oh Pure-Hearted One.” 

Oliver nodded firmly. Evan then turned back towards his people and smiled happily.

“So, to honor today, let's celebrate!” 

The people of kingdom cheered in joy, and joyful music began to play, filling the kingdom with light.

There was dancing in the streets as music filled the kingdom walls, people clapped in beat to the songs and sang the lyrics no matter how bad their voices were, vendors called people to their shops selling special products they saved for special occasions. The Evermore streets were packed with people from various kingdoms all over the world. Or at least from those on the same continent.

Evan noticed some people from Broadleaf, but he soon felt disappointed when he saw no one from Hamelin. Perhaps Emperor Marcassin couldn't come, or maybe they never got the invite. Though, even if Marcassin couldn't come, he'd at least expect some of the people from Hamelin to show up.

As Evan joined the party, with his ministers close behind (as everyone knew his ministers worked double-time as his bodyguards), he found his worries slowly fading away. Oliver wore a crown, signifying him as the hero of today’s festivities, the smile never left his face as he simply had fun and danced, as a kid should.

Batu scooped the young king and hero onto his shoulders and paraded them both around the main square. Roland, with doctors permission, joined the party as well, though he was told to sit and rest often, much to his annoyance.

As the party continued Oliver would eventually go running to look at the shops, by himself, not that it really mattered if he was alone or not… there was a large crowd after all. But as he looked at the shops and their products, he had an eerie feeling, like someone was watching him with evil intent. A hand rested on his wand and he gripped his spellbook tightly.

The more he walked the dense the crowd became, and the smaller the shops until Oliver found himself away from the festivities and in a quiet part of the kingdom, well quiet-ish. He could still very well hear the sounds of the party.

He stopped to take a breather, away from everyone else. The feeling didn’t leave him, no matter where he went.

Click.

Oliver froze, his eyes darted down an alleyway, an unnerving feeling washed over him from just looking at it. He didn't even realize that the crowd had slowly cleared away from where he was, the people who were still around wouldn't have noticed anything around them, or at least not what was going on with Oliver.

“Who’s there?” he called down the alleyway, who knew Evermore could have such a creepy alleyway.

Tani came walking down the street, her eyes scanning the people until she spotted Oliver. Who silently stared down an alleyway. She looked at him for a few seconds before walking over curiously.

No one responded to him, not for a few minutes, Oliver just stared, “Hello? Is there someone back there?” he called again, not noticing the girl come up beside him.

“Oliver, what are-” she was cut off by a voice from down the alleyway.

“Guess I’m someone then.” they heard the tapping of someone’s feet as they walked forward, closer and closer to them. 

The children stepped back, watching the alley with nervous, but battle-ready, eyes. Ready to pull out their weapons in a second.

The person came into view slowly, and just from the looks of him they knew he was no good.

“You’ve got good ears kid,” he rubbed the back of his head, hand almost vanishing into his curly hair, “I’m surprised you heard me.”

“I just heard a click is all.” Oliver gripped his wand, holding it where it would be visible to the man.

“What really?” He sighed, “I thought you heard me talking… I could've stayed back there for much longer…” he barely mumbled to himself, the kids could still hear him pretty well.

“He’s a thief,” Tani stated plainly, her eyes burning holes into his forehead.

“How can you tell?” Oliver didn’t take his eyes off the man either.

“It takes a thief to recognize a thief.” She stared into his eyes with a sharp look.

“You’ve got sharp eyes.” The man frowned at her, “Don’t look so ready to fight, little pirate-princess.”

The curly-haired thief leaned against the wall, watching them both to see what they’d do next, a sly smile forming on his lips when he spotted their expensive looking weapons and crown. This would be a good steal, and might just feed him for weeks.

Once the thought was in his mind, he couldn't stop himself.

The party raged on, so the shouting heard in the distant was easily drowned out or ignored, all Evan had noticed was that neither Oliver or Tani had been seen for a while, he eyes gazed across his citizens curiously.

Oliver had mentioned something about the bizarre and vendors, and Tani had mentioned being nervous about Oliver being alone with so many people around.

“He’s not used to our world,” she said, “he could get lost, or someone might try to hurt him. Course he can obviously fight back, but I wanna fight too.” he remembered her saying. 

Evan’s cast his eyes, in the direction she had gone, nervously waiting for her return. 

“Maybe I should go find her…” he wondered quietly, before walking in that direction.

“‘Scuse me highness!” a man pushed passed Evan quickly, bumping him on the shoulder as he went, “So sorry!” he shouted behind himself, disappearing into the crowd again, Evan watched until he couldn’t see him anymore.

“EVAN!” Tani came rushing towards him, “Did he take anything from you?”

“What? Who?”

 

“Argh! That guy that ran past!”

“Why would he take something from me?” Evan stared at her, “He didn’t steal from you did he?”

“Don’t have time for this!” She snapped and hurried after him again, Evan felt almost dazed. If that was a thief though, Evan knew Tani would handle him properly.

“Your majesty!” Oliver ran up the king, catching his breath quickly before looking up at him, “Did you see where Tani ran off too?”

Evan pointed, but put a hand on Oliver’s chest before he was able to run off, “Oliver, what’s happening?”

“There was this man,”

“Yes, I saw him.”

“Right, and he was talking to us, but there was something really off,”

“And?” Evan pushed, with an expression telling Oliver to hurry up with his story.

“Annd, before we knew what he was doing he snatched my spellbook, the crown, and Tani’s bow! He was so fast, but then he just booked it outta there with our stuff and Tani started chasing him!” Oliver explained in a quickened tone.

“I see…” Evan looked Tani’s direction and motioned for Oliver to follow him, “Let’s go find them then!”

Oliver nodded intently and the pair rushed off at great speeds. Evan did trust Tani to handle the thief, but if he took something as valuable as Oliver's Spellbook, he had to track him down as well. At least to hear his reasoning.

The two began pushes through the dense crowd, trying in vain to see where Tani had ran off to, or at least spot the man. They had to hold hands just to keep from losing each other, that was until a loud scream rang out from the crowd.

“What was that?” Evan froze right where he was.

The boys turned in the direction of the scream. Watching the crowd thin in the direction.

“It could’ve been Tani!” Oliver gasped, “She could be in danger!”

“Tani wouldn’t be in danger…” Evan worried, “Come on! We have to go!”

The pair pushed into the scene, a clearing had formed around whatever was going on. Evan had been correct, Tani wasn’t in any danger, in fact, the scream had come from a nearby woman observing the situation.

Tani had the thief pinned to the ground, her spear aimed right at his throat, and her knee pushing into his chest. The thief looked pained, and she pushed her knee into his ribcage.

“Alright, alright!” he gasped, “Take the stuff back.”

Tani took their stolen items back from him, passing them back to Evan and Oliver. But she didn’t get off of him.

“Come on then! I gave you your stuff back!” He attempted to slowly wiggle away, “Least you could do is let me go!”

“No!” Tani hissed, “You’re paying for your actions! You-”

Evan placed a hand on her shoulder, “Tani, you must calm down.”

“It’s his fault,” she glared back at Evan, who did not flinch at her fiery gaze, “he STOLE from a sky pirate! He’s just lucky boss isn’t here yet, and he’ll be even more lucky if boss never gets here!”

“Whoa, sky pirate, eh?” He coughed from the ground, “Had no idea, little miss. Really, no idea at all.”

Evan shook his head, both of them ignoring the thief at this point, “He will be dealt with. But not here and not by you.” He matched her gaze with the same intensity.

“Guards!” Evan called, but they were already running over. Tani stepped off of the thief, as he was lifted by Evermoreian guards, “Take him to the dungeon. For the crime of thievery.”

The guards nodded and dragged the man off, who really didn’t do anything to stop it. Only cracked a few jokes, and tried to be clever. Not in any attempt to get them to let him go mind you, just because he could.

Evan looked at Tani, who was watching them go, he reached over and touched her arm.

“Are you unhurt?”  
Tani looked surprised for a second, before looking at the king, “Yeah, I’m fine. That thief wouldn’t be able to hurt me even if he tried!” she grinned happily, and Evan smiled back.

Oliver handed Tani her stolen belongings and made sure he held his book tightly.

“Maybe we should enjoy the party in a more people-filled part of town?”


	5. Truth Hidden in Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The celebration continues slowly, as Oliver starts to figure out what to do with the thief caught earlier in that day.

“I'm sorry about the incident from earlier today,” Evan apologized to Oliver, “you shouldn't have had to experience that.”

“It's not your fault, your majesty.” Oliver stared at his reflection in the central fountain, “You didn’t know it was gonna happen.”

Evan was sitting on the fountain next to Oliver, who was leaned over the wall and poking the water to cause ripples in his reflection.

“I know that…” Evan sighed, “It's just-”

“He always blames himself for any bad things that happen in Evermore.” Tani walked along the wall of the fountain, her arms stretched out to keep her balanced, “Especially after what Shadar did.”

Evan snapped his head over to look her with an annoyed expression, “I do not!”

“Yeah, you kinda do.”

He sighed angrily and went to looking straight ahead of himself. He could see the adults standing nearby, after the incident they did want to let those three outta their sight.

He choose instead to look at his hands, that way he wouldn't be stuck looking at another person.

“I just wish I could keep people from doing stuff like that…” He rubbed the tip of his fingers, the tip of his tail dipped into the water and began to swish it slowly back and forth.

Plunk!

Something heavy dropped into the water. Evan turned look, Tani was bent over, her hands on her knees as she looked at what fell into the water. Oliver pulled his back to his side, he had been the one to drop the object in.

There, in the water, was a shiny gold Guilder. The water still rippled from where it fell.

“What'd you do that for?” Tani asked.

“To make a wish.” Oliver responded, still looking into the water.

“You make wishes by dropping money into water?” Evan clarified.

“It's something we do back home, you take a Penny, that's a coin in my world, make a wish, then drop it into the fountain, or toss it into one. Whichever works.”

Evan took a Guilder from his pocket, and stared at it for a bit, an uttered a quiet wish. He let it fall from his hand into the fountain below, water splashed, some hitting Oliver's face.

He whipped his cheek with his sleeve, and smiled, “Don't tell anyone what you wished for. They say, if you tell someone your wish, then it won't come true.”

Tani stepped off from the fountain and looked at the boys, “Come on you two, as pretty as this fountain is, I don't wanna stay here the whole day. I say we get something to eat!”

“Oh, alright.” Evan nodded and stood up, “Come on then.”

The trio walked over to the adults, Drippy hopping onto Oliver's shoulder, as they walked.

“Oi, what were you three plottin’ over there?” He asked.

“Nothing Mr.Drippy.” Oliver giggled, “We were making wishes.”

“Oh, yeah? What'd you wish for?”

“I can’t say!” Oliver said with a smile, but there was almost a sad look in his eyes, “Anyways, where have you been?”

“Exploring, figuring out where to go next, stuff like that.” Drippy explained, “You wouldn't believe what I found though.”

Evan's ears turned, picking up the conversation next to him, curious as to what they were talking about.

“I found a fairy!” Drippy exclaimed, “‘Cept, he wasn't a fairy at all mun, just looked like an all.”

“whoa! Neato!” Oliver gasped, “Hey where is he now?”

Just as Evan turned his head, something collided with him, sending him crashing to the ground. Oliver jumped in surprise, suspecting to see that something bad had happened to the king when he turned his head. Evan was fine, a little bruised, but fine. Roland kneeled down next to the king, helping him sit up.

Evan rubbed his head, his eyes closed, as he groaned in pain. He could feel Roland helping him up, but some weight on his chest as well. Slowly he opened his eyes to investigate. The weight wasn’t heavy, but it was prominent. He looked down, squinted slightly at the yellow light that shined off of it.

“Wait a minute…” Evan blinked, then gasped, his eyes going wide.

“Evan, lad!” His kingmaker held onto him tightly, “I always knew I’d getcha back!”

“Lofty!” the child wrapped the kingmaker in hug and squeezed tightly, “It’s so good to see you!” he rested his head on him, “Where have you been?”

“Flip, mun! Where else would I be in the bloomin’ kingdom?” Lofty jabbed Evan in his cheek, “You built that cathedral for a reason, didn’t you?”

“Why didn’t you just stay at the castle?” Evan held the fairy look-alike out, and gave him a questioning look.

“Wasn’t like you were in the mood, Evan.” Lofty frowned, “With all snapping and anger, and such, I couldn’t very well stand to be in that castle.”

Evan set him down, sifting to be sitting on his knees, he looked a bit more upset, “Our kingsbond…” he said, that caught their attention, and they began to look nervous, “It didn’t… It… weakened… didn’t it…. Like what happened to the others…?”

The others watched him sadly, Roland placed a hand on his shoulder, in an attempt to comfort him. It was like they all feared what Lofty would say next. The kingmaker closed his eyes, and shook his head, arms folding.

“Evan…” He began, and Evan looked at the ground, “Do you really think,” he jumped up and whacked the king on the head, “that ouer Kingsbond would weaken cause of some curse put on ya lad?” he shouted, “I ain’t as dumb as all those other beasties, I know I good ruler when I see one!”

“But, but… My citizens, they-”

“Still loved ya, lad! You were different, but they knew the real you was still there! Think of all the went through in their homelands with Doloran? It’s basically the same as what with with you lad!” Lofty turned away, arms folded, “Sheesh, the self-confidence on this boy. Someone outta do something ‘bout that.”

Evan smile, and scooped the kingmaker up in a hug again, “Thank you, Lofty!”

Roland sighed happily and looked back at the others, they all had sweet smiles on their faces, watching the reunion between king and kingmaker. He placed a hand on Evan's head, absentmindedly.

“C'mon you,” he huffed as he stood up, “think that's about enough excitement for today.” that was a phrase he said a lot, usually directed at his son, who often tried to push himself, despite his illness. He hadn't even realised that he wasn't talking to his son, until he heard Evan's voice again.

“Are you tired Roland?” Evan asked, standing up with him.

“Ah,” Roland chuckled realising his mistake, “I suppose a little. Besides, now you have that thief to deal with.”

“Right…” Evan nodded thoughtfully, “I'll have to have a chat with him. Oliver,” he looked over at the redhead, “would you join me? There was something… off…. About that man…”

Oliver nodded happily, but before he could say anything Tani interrupted.

“Um, weren't we getting food?” her tone told them that she was annoyed, “Wasn't that our plan?”

“Sorry, Tani. Royal duties take precedence over most things.” He apologized, with a bit of a now, “But you don't have to come with me, I'll have the royal guards with me, so you can continue the party.”

“I'll be joinin’ ya, lad.” Batu stepped forward, “Just to be sure he doesn't talk ya into nothin’.”

“Oh, alright.” Evan said happily then paused, “Wait, what do you mean by that?”

“Come on then you two.” Batu began to walked towards the castle, “No time to lose.”

“Batu! What did you mean by that?!” Evan took Oliver's wrist and pulled him along as he hurried behind the burly man, “I'm not gullible! I wouldn't fall for his tricks you know!”

Batu just continued forward, a bit quicker.

“Batu!” Evan huffed angrily. Oliver giggled and the pair ran up behind Batu, continue their trek to the castle.

Roland watched them go, as he began to walk with the group left behind, he found himself waiting for someone to take his hand as they walked. Once again, Roland had to remind himself that his son wasn't with him.

 

In the dungeons of the castle, the guards lead Evan to where the thief was imprisoned. It was one of the smaller cells, there was a very small window at the top, allowing sunlight in, as well as a crappy bed in the corner. The cell was clearly meant for only one person, even then it still felt a bit small. Evan didn't like that, he expected the thief to start complaining about it the second he saw the king, but instead he just smiled at them.

“Hey, good to see you, little king!” He waved absentmindedly.

“Hello, sir.” Evan did met his greeting with the same carefree altitude, instead he kept the same serious, yet blank, expression on his face.

“Aw,” he sat up seeing Evan's face, “Why so serious, your majesty?”

“Why on Earth did you steal from those two?” Evan asked, ignoring his last question.

“Why not?” The thief shrugged, “I don't understand the big deal, so gave the stuff back right, so no big deal?”

“Very big deal!” Oliver gasped, “Whether you have our stuff back or not, you still stole! Which is a crime!”

The thief shrugged quietly, still not seeing the big issue.

“It's no point lad…” Batu glared intensely at the thief, “This here is a thief I've dealt with before. He doesn't care about any of that, he doesn't even steal for the money half the time.”

“What?” Oliver looked at the man in confusion, “Then, then why steal at all?”

“Oh, Batu! Good to see you again!” He smiled a crooked smile at the Sky Viper.

“Swaine,” Batu walked over and grabbed the bars, leaning closer, “I thought you were taking yer mangy butt back to Hamelin where it belongs!”

“Well, I was.” He shrugged, “But then I saw such a lovely invitation to Evermore for some party, and I just couldn't resist!”

Batu groaned and rubbed his temples, already sick of talking to Swaine.

Oliver's brows furrowed as he watched the thief, he had a thought, an odd one, but one that certainly had traction.

“Oi, Ollie-boy…” Drippy whispered to the child, “What are you thinking?”

“This guy, he just does things, for no reason…” Oliver began to mumble his thinking out to the fairy.

“Yes, and…” Drippy pressed.

“He doesn’t care about the consequences, he just puts himself in danger for no reason…” Oliver looked at Drippy quickly, like the idea had just snapped into his head.

“He’s broken hearted!” Oliver said loud enough to catch the attention of the other two, who looked over at him.

“Really?” Evan looked at the thief, “Why would Shadar break his heart? He’s just some thief. Certainly no threat to someone as powerful as he is”

Swaine looked at the king, he looked into the child’s eyes intently, his eyes were the eyes of a sad and tired man. One who had seen the world, the good parts and the ugly parts and just barely survived it.

“You’re too young to have met me, your majesty,” he folded his arms and looked away, “but I did used to live in Hamelin.” He almost looked like he smiled.

“Hamelin?” Evan watched him for a second then shook his head, “Oh, nevermind you! What piece of heart is his missing?”

“Restraint,” Drippy confirmed, “it’s obvious. Just look at the way he acts.”

Evan nodded thoughtfully, his brows furrowed. “Well, you can handle this right, Oliver?”

“Um, yeah!” Oliver nodded with a smile, “We can handle this!”

“Good, good,” he tapped his finger against his chin in consideration, “I… I almost don't want to charge him, if he's broken hearted then it's not really his fault.”

“Gee… You have a point.”

“Ah, you such a softie. Makes no difference to me.” Swaine had laid himself down on the small bed, he had one leg up, and the other resting on his knee.

“It's a good thing we weren't asking you for your opinion.” Evan looked him, his eyebrows raised.

The man opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again with a shrugs of his shoulders. Didn’t matter to him whether they cared or not.

“I’ll find him a piece of heart!” Oliver said proudly, “I won’t come back until I do! That’s a promise!”

“Thank you, Oliver.” Evan bowed his hand in thanks, “The more hearts that are saved, the people will be able to stand up to Shadar.”

 

Oliver nodded, if all the people of this world stood up against the dark djinn, then it was very likely that they could overcome him, and rescue their world from despair. All Oliver would need to do, was to convince the rulers of every kingdom to stand up to Shadar, therefor getting them to convince their subjects to stand up as well.

The child made sure he had all of his belongings, then quickly made his way out of the dungeon. Evan quietly watched his go, a look on his face showed that he was lost in thought, that was until his mind snapped into reality, reminding him that he had a question for Oliver.

He hurried after Oliver, an arm out to catch his sleeve.

“Wait,” Evan grabbed him, “I have a favour to ask of you!”

Oliver turned quickly, surprised by the grabbing, “What are you doing?!”

Evan quickly released, “Ah! I didn’t mean to startle you!”

“No, it’s fine.” Oliver smiled at him, “What do you need?”

“How... How did…” The king almost felt embarrassed asking him the question, “How did you get to… our world?”

“Oh, I have a spell!” Oliver opened the book and showed him the Gateway spell, “It lets me travel between your world and mine!”

Evan’s ears poked straight up curiously, “Is that so?”

“Yup! I think I can even bring people over to my world,” He looked at Drippy who nodded for clarification.

“I see…” Evan hummed, “Then, I have a favor for you. When you are ready to return to your own world,”

Oliver looked at him, his head slightly tilted.

“Bring Roland back with you.” Evan asked him, “Bring him back to your world, he has a lot to do there, so please. Take him home.”

Oliver watched Evan for a few moments, before giving him a warm smile and nodding. 

“Of course!”

Finding someone with a lot of restraint would be difficult, there were so many people in Evermore, especially because of the the festival. The child pushed his way through the crowd, his fairy riding on his shoulder so they wouldn’t get seperated.

“Why do you think Shadar broke his heart?” Oliver asked, as he weaved through all of the people, a skill he had mastered thanks to school hallways.

“Why does Shadar break anyone’s heart, Ollie-boy?” Drippy shrugged, “Why’d break the heart of that guardsmen in Ding Dong Dell? Why’s he breakin’ the hearts of random so-and-so’s?”

Oliver huffed, not the answer he was hoping for. He walked along a bridge that lead away from the stone square where the people gathered, and lead onto a dirt pathway. As he stepped onto the pathway he found himself between two buildings, he could only assume they were military barracks, or maybe training grounds.

As he rounded the corner he could see into one of the training areas, an old dogfolk appeared to be training a young apprentice.

“I told you Grandfather, this simply isn’t for me.” the younger dog sat on the ground, his knees up, “I must stick to my craft. I can’t do this..”

“This is a time of war, my boy,” The grandfather sighed, “if there is ever and attack on Evermore, you must be ready to defend yourself and your friends.”

The younger dog, nodded then stood up, lifting his sword again, “You say all that, but is this all just a ploy to make me a great warrior like you?” he joked, and his grandfather chuckled heartily.

“Fai Do, you must think better of me by now?” he laughed at his grandson.

“Of course, Grandfather!” they both chuckled, and got back to their training, Oliver watched quietly, Fai Do messed up multiple times, looking more and more frustrated with himself when he did not succeed with the exercise.

Oliver watched on, eventually getting fully distracted and taking a seat on the grass to watch, he saw how everytime Fai Do failed, and everytime he got frustrated, he did not stop training.

“Take a break, you have done enough today.” his grandfather instructed him, it was then Oliver was noticed, and Oliver noticed that someone was next to him, “Ah, it seem you’ve had an audience.” 

“Huh?” Fai Do turned to see Oliver and another dog, “What are you two doing here?”

“Two?” Oliver turned to look next to himself, seeing a dog with dark fur sitting next to him, “jeepers! When did you get there.”

“A while ago.” He shrugged, then stood up, “Anyways, I wanted to show you some designs for weapons I had, I thought maybe you could make matching armor for them.”

“Alright Nu Bi,” Fai Do walked over to the pair, “But first, can I assist you with something, Pure Hearted One?”

“Oh um!” Oliver was surprised, he had almost forgotten what he was doing, “Well, uh, maybe…” Drippy tapped on his leg, and Oliver glanced down, the fairy simply nodded and Oliver knew he was correct with his next course of action.

“I need your help with something,” He said, “It won’t take long I promise!”

Fai Do looked confused, “Oh? What do you need?”

“It must’ve taken a lot of restraint not to just quit when it got hard while you were training,” Oliver said curiously.

“I suppose.” He shrugged, “I'll admit I did want to quit quite a lot, but my Grandfather was right, we are in dangerous times, we need to be ready to help in anyway possible.”

“Jeepers!” Oliver watched him with wide eyes, “Do you think… You could help someone in the kingdom? He doesn't have any restraint, but you do!”

“I’m not sure I understand,” he looked to Nu Bi, who wasn’t able to offer any help with the situation.

“Ah,” Oliver thought for a second before coming up with a good answer, “Oh! It’s like what happened to King Evan! Shadar took a part of someone’s heart, and we need someone who has a lot of restraint!”

“I see,” Fai Do nodded carefully, “and you believe that I can help?”

“Yes!” Oliver nodded excitedly, “I really do!”

“Alright! What do I need to do?” He smiled at Oliver, who beamed back.

“Nothing!” Just sit there while I cast a spell, his wand raised high into the air proudly, the tip lighting up with a brilliant glow, the rune was drawn in the sky, when it was a complete a light shone from Fai Do's chest which then flew the the locket hung around Oliver's neck.

Fai Do placed a hand on his chest, with a smile, “My chest feels warm. Is it because of your magic?”

“That's right!” Oliver placed his wand back in the holder on his hip, “That was a piece of your heart, a very small piece, so you won't even notice It's gone!”

“Oi, Ollie-boy!” Drippy tugged gently on his cape, “We should hurry back to King Cat-ears quickly! Unless you want another one ‘em nightmares on your hands!”

“Uh oh!” Oliver looked down at the fairy then back to Fai Do, “He's right! I should go! Thank you so much!”

“It's no problem,” Fai Do nodded, “and please, come by the armory or blacksmiths, we'd be happy to make you some proper gear for your travels!”

“Wow! Thank you!” Oliver started to hurry, calling over his shoulder, “I definitely Will! I'll see you then!”

“He's a nice kid.” Fai Do smiled.

“They call him the pure hearted one for a reason.” Nu Bi watched the child run off.

Oliver rushed back into the castle, a determined look on his face, “Your majesty!” He held up his locket, “We have the restraint!”

“Fantastic!” Evan jumped up from his throne and hurried to follow Oliver to the dungeon, the pair ran down to the cell where Swaine was being held.

Swaine laid in his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, only cocking up one eyebrow when he heard the pair. “Oh great, look who's back.” he said in an obviously sarcastic tone.

“We're here to help!” Oliver said happily.

Swaine sat up and glared at him, “Listen, kiddo, I've been thinking, and I don't need your help. If fact, if you want to help me, you'd let me go.”

“Well, I mean That's sorta what I'm gonna do.” Oliver pulled out his wand and spell book, “It's a spell, it'll help! Trust me!”

Swaine glared at the spell book and wand fiercely, almost like it was because of that wand and spell book that his life was so bad, “Oh great, some little wannabe wizard thinks he can help me!” Swaine snapped, “What are you gonna Do? Cast Healing Touch and call it quits?”

Oliver was surprised at the sudden change in time and found himself actually stepping back a bit, “What?”

“Calm down!” Evan glared right back at Swaine, “He is trying to help you!”

“Well guess what kitty-cat, I'm sick of wizards thinking they can fix everything with their dumb magic!” He walked up the bars taking hold of them and leaning as forward as he could, “Your silly magic can't help everyone! It's pointless! You all just think you're better than everyone!”

“Uh oh, Ollie-boy! Get ready!” Drippy called to Oliver quickly!

“Evan mun! I sense something proper nasty coming from him there!” Lofty seemed to be prepping himself for a fight as well.

“Gah!” Swaine dropped to his knees, dark smoke pouring forth, and over taking the room, the boys stepped until their backs were against the wall.

“What’s happening?” Evan looked at Oliver quickly.

“It's a nightmare!” Oliver clutched his wand tightly, frightened and feeling unprepared to fight another one, and he slightly wished he had gotten some new gear.

“A nightmare?” Evan questioned, but there was no time to explain as the the room became dark and the strange monster sprang out. It was long and skinny with a jagged grin plastered across its face.

The monster wasted no time shredding poison across the room, Oliver shoved Evan out of the quickly, allowing them both to avoid the poisonous gas.

“We need to fight!” Oliver instructed the king, before getting up and sending out a fireball at the monster. He ran the opposite direction of Evan, keeping the monster distracted while Evan got his bearings straight.

It didn't take long for Evan to jump into the battle, he leapt at the beast, his sword clutched tightly in his hands. the blade slashed through the monsters body, cutting it in half, and for a second, Evan thought they'd won, but before he could cheer it quickly reattached and fixed itself.

“Yikes!” Evan quickly leaped backwards to avoid another attack from beast, finding himself stepping right into a cloud of poisonous gas, a pain sprung throughout his body as he quickly stumbled out coughing.

“Are you okay?” Oliver gasped, sending out Mighty to take over the fighting for him as he ran over to check on Evan.

Evan dropped to his knees coughing until his chest hurt, he gasped for breath and squeezed his eyes shut, attempting to push through the pain.

“Look out!”

Evan had to time to react as he opened his eyes he saw a beam of Magic shooting right for him, his eyes widened and Oliver jumped in front of him, taking the blast for the king.

The world flashed, and Evan found himself back in the sewers of Ding Dong Dell, with Arenella in front of him her arms outstretched as she took the blast from the Black Knight. Before collapsing to the ground.

Then he was back, Oliver kneeling on the ground and gasping, hurt quite a lot from the blast, Drippy rushing to his side.

“Evan mun, get up!” Lofty shouted to Evan, “You've got a battle to worry about!”

Evan glared a fiery glare at the Nightmare and stumbled to his feet, “I will not let anyone take the fall for me again!” He clutched his sword and pushed himself passed the pain of the poison, walking towards the monster.

The beast rushed towards the little king, it's strange claws ready to slash into him. Evan did not rush out of the way.

“Evan!” Oliver shouted, “You need to run!”

But Evan ignored him, he watched the nightmare carefully, and in the split second before he was struck Evan was gone, staggering the beast who had expected to strike the child down right then and there. Before anyone could say anything, Evan appeared again behind the beast with one huge attack cutting into its back.

The monster fell to the ground stunned.

Oliver stood up quickly, taking the chance to catch his breath.

“Lofty, lend me your strength!” Evan called to his kingmaker.

“I read you loud and clear, Evan!” a golden glim flew from the small kingmaker, catching Drippy's eye.

“There's a tidy idea!” The fairy laughed, “Are you ready Ollie-boy?”

Oliver nodded feeling himself become powered up as well.

The boys stood on either side of the monster, their weapons of choice raised high in the air. Their eyes shut as the power overtook them.

“Burning Heart!” Oliver shouted and a giant ball of spinning flames formed over his head.

“Hyah!” Evan's sword began glowing a beautifully golden bright color. 

It was a bad time for the monster to break free from It's stune, because it did not take long for it to realise that its death was soon. Their combined attack was bright, an explosion of power. If the monster had a proper body, then there wouldn't have been much left of it.

When the light cleared the boys found themselves sitting in the dungeons again, with Swaine in front of them in the cell.

They looked at eachother quietly, then back at Swaine, then back at each other, before remembering what they were doing.

“Yipes!” Oliver quickly opened the Wizard's Companion and cast Give Heart on the thief.

The light flew from Oliver's locket and into Swaine’s chest. The man sat quietly for a bit. One hand over his chest, he then slowly looked up and took in his surroundings.

“What… what happened?” He asked nervously, “ah crap… What did I do?” He asked after realizing he was in prison.

“You… well you-” Oliver was cut off by a sudden gasped from Evan, who clutched his chest, “Your majesty! What's wrong?!”

“The...The poison!” Evan gasped painfully.

“Ah! Ahh!!” Swaine was startled, he was just starting to barely figure out what was happening and now the king of Evermore was on curling in on himself while gasping about some poison, “You!” He pointed at Oliver, “You're a wizard! Cast Healing Touch!”

“Healing Touch doesn't cure poison!” Oliver stumbled over his words, he was very stressed.

“Right, right! I forgot!” Swaine began patting down his pockets looking for something, “I know I have- Ah-ha!!” He pulled out a bottle, “Take this your majesty quickly!” He thrust the bottle through the bars and into Evan's reach.

The king didn't even question it and drank the elixir quickly, the pain slowly subsiding from his body as he did. He took a deep shaky breast and gave them a reassuring smile.

The other two both let out a heavy sigh of relief. Swaine reached through the bars of his cell and patted Evan comfortingly on the head.

Oliver laid backwards, so he was looking up at the ceiling. “What did you give him?” He asked the thief.

“All-Be-Gone. Gets rid of all sorts of poison and ailments.” Swaine said with a proud smile, “Always keep one or two on you, never know when you might need them.”

“Thank you very much.” Evan. Slowly sat up, his arms still wrapped around his stomach in case the pain did come back.

“Hey, it's no problem.” Swaine held a hand up to reaffirm his point, “Now, uh, mind if ask? What exactly is going here?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the extremely late update! But I happy I finally got this one done! And very happy to have Swaine finally properly introduced. 
> 
> I would also like to apologized for any misspelled words or anything like that, I tried to find all of it but I think I missed something.


End file.
